Indiana National Guardsmen prepare to lift off from the Indiana National Guard Armory's Army Aviation Support Facility in Shelbyville in a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter.

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The Indiana National Guard delayed same-sex benefits to guard members for a month, but is not denying them, the Guard said Friday in response to criticism from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Hagel said Thursday that some states are defying the Pentagon by refusing to allow National Guard facilities to issue ID cards that allow same-sex spouses of military members to claim health care, housing and other benefits.

The Pentagon's new policy went into effect Sept. 3, following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in June that struck down the part of the 1996 federal law that denied federal benefits ...